Skyblivion - Why Fireballs from your Sword are Great

[@WastedPot]

Yo that character sheet _is_ doing something for me though. What has Bethesda done to us.

[@lanelesic]

Todd sold out soul and Soule to Microsoft soulless corporation suits.

[@dmitriyrasskazov8858]

@@lanelesic Implying Todd had soul at some point.

[@IgnimortisTC]

@@lanelesic Skyrim was made a decade before the Microsoft buyout. Bethesda's been steadily losing creative juice since Morrowind, even.

[@JB-xl2jc]

Do you want the actual answer? The answer is that people like us as the minority. Most people don't seek out channels that have details on the exact impact of one level of Endurance in Oblivion. They just play. They may have noticed that there are less armor pieces in Oblivion than in Morrowind, but if they did, they didn't care. They might have noticed that attributes disappeared between Oblivion and Skyrim, but they didn't care. Most people want a seamless smooth but very dumbed down RPG that has more action elements and superficial stuff than it does crunchy spreadsheets and multi-page character sheets. And that's ok. I think anyone should be able to game how they like to game. But here's the issue. We live in a system in which the amount of money something makes is the SOLE determinant of how "successful" of a project it was. So every major dev is incentivized to dumb down their game and make it more palatable to a wider audience. As a result, Indie games come in to the equation AFTER the main studios have simplified things, and they re-add them... and that's why people like us find that AAA games aren't as satisfying now as they used to be, and it's largely indie games that have that complicated crunchiness and oldschool RPG styling that satisfies us. Tl;Dr Bethesda did precisely what the largest sector of consumers wanted, and as a result became very financially successful. And that sucks for us, because we are in the relatively minority.

[@merlylvsm]

Yeah it's awesome to see the guy that made the Skyrim mod get swooped up onto the project. That character sheet is *juicy*

[@joshchristian5998]

YES THANK YOU, the lack of a dedicated cast spell is one of those things that is constantly shrugged off by people but it massively hampers magic in Skyrim. I don't mind being able to cast magic in your hand, dual-casting having benefits, etc, but being able to bind a spell to a slot so you can use it while wielding other things gives a huge plus to like Paladin fantasies and stuff, things that are frustratingly difficult in Skyrim. Magic should be bindable to the shout slot in Skyblivion (I mean we're not getting shouts in Skyblivion anyway, obviously).

[@GreatWhiteElf]

The skyblivion team has been working hard, and whether it turns out to be a weird hybrid of both or something completely new, I'm gonna play it

[@Dr_Hoops_McCann]

My nightmare is that Bethesda will step in at the last second before release and shut it down, hoping/forcing the majority of the fanbase to buy their 'Remastered' version.

[@PunishedRalph]

@@Dr_Hoops_McCann By the looks of things Skybilivion are requiring people to have non-cracked GOTY Oblivion and Skyrim special edition - so it looks like they are attempting to avoid having a fight with Bethesda by trying to indirectly benefit their sales.

[@theobell2002]

@@Dr_Hoops_McCann Bethesda has said multiple times they have no issues with Skyblivion. Bethesda even hightlighted Skyblivion in an article on their site.

[@HeavenlyPhantomStar]

@@Dr_Hoops_McCann Your fears are completely unfounded, as the Skyblivion team has actually been in contact with Bethesda throughout the process and they've only been supportive. Bethesda has also never gone after any other thing like this, like they never went after Morrowblivion.

[@Kaijudomage]

@@HeavenlyPhantomStar Yeah, I can't stand when people keep thinking that Bethesda is gonna step in and kill this when they have never interfered with any mod directly ever, any restriction to mods came from Sony mainly and a bit from MS.

[@Fishfiend2820]

The honest answer to why some of these choices have been made is bandwidth We don't have the developers who know how to change these systems We can't freeze the entire project to wait for these aspects to be developed by people who don't exist. We are a volunteer team unless someone with the needed skills volunteer we don't really have a choice Thanks for covering the project i appreciate the passion

[@theoldknight85]

Thanks for the answer! The project looks incredible. In my previous video about Skyblivion I definitely had a lot of misconceptions about what you are doing. It is crazy how much misinformation is out there. Also, even without the limitations based on manpower and technical skills I can't expect a project based on Skyrim to cater just to my preferences, the weird guy in the room obsessed with Oblivion, I just like sharing my opinions and why I have them. I'm looking forward to see what the final product is. Keep up the awesome work.

[@Fishfiend2820]

@@theoldknight85 no worries and the misconception probably boils down to internal miscommunication or we've had people join promise all these amazing features and disappear before they can finish it I'm the recently appointed mechanics lead in the coming months I play to lock down exactly what is and isn't making it in the build so I can stop misinformation like this and get everything clear for the community

[@Alt-c9x]

I mentioned this before, but after play Oblivion again, you really do get a sense of just how limited Skyrim is in terms of builds not just because of the lack of spells, but like you're saying, the fact that you just can't equip spells with your weapons out if it isn't 1 One-handed weapon or shield. That, and the combat animations are so slow in Skyrim by comparison, which might be fine alone but combined with the spellcasting system makes it feel way less fluid.

[@alienplatypus7712]

You can't use weapons or shields while in a casting animation in Oblivion. It's functionally identical to swapping to a spell to cast it and back in Skyrim. Bad QoL sure but it has zero impact on build variety. Just unequip the battle axe to cast that spell. The actual problems: 1: Skyrim's destruction is just so undertuned there's no point in using it. You'd have to massively lower both cast times and magicka costs for it to compare to weapons. Even at 100% cost reduction destruction's DPS pales in comparison to straight up unimproved, unenchanted, unboosted melee and bows, and for some reason Skyrim enemies tend to have better magic resistances than armour, making it even worse for destruction. 2: Skyrim's restoration would be just as absurd in Oblivion. Doesn't matter what you have to unequip, Skyrim's healing is too magicka efficient to ignore if you're tryharding. Taking negative damage is better than blocking. That's just as true in oblivion, it's just that restoration isn't as insane.

[@Alt-c9x]

@@alienplatypus7712 Points 1 & 2 totally agree with. On your counterpoint: but that does make the build variety weaker because as the vid used as an example, I can't use a bow and cast a melee spell or a weakness spell. Same thing with two handed build with ranged spells if you wanted, because in Skyrim having to pull out a bow or a warhammer because you needed to use a spell in combat takes way too long. You can really only use shouts for those builds.

[@merlylvsm]

You can cast spells with weapons, but also cast spells with your hands. They've said the shout key will be repurposed as a casting key (reverting what Bethesda did, basically).

[@HeavenlyPhantomStar]

This has been said for sure, it just hasn't really been showed off yet.

[@merlylvsm]

@HeavenlyPhantomStar Yeah, kinda falls into the category part of the video covers, but also the reason they want UI volunteers it's just not final, might pitch in tbh.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

​@@HeavenlyPhantomStarIt has but very subtlety if you watch the gameplay showcase where they useFingers of the Mountain, if you pause the UI when they select the Spell you'll notice that it doesn't say "L" or "R" meaning it isn't tied to a hand

[@MilesRules97]

That character creation screen looks tasty. You are right it will be a different game, but I am hoping it will be the oblivion sequel I was expecting when Skyrim came out. Less streamlined for the masses, updated graphics, quality of life fixes. Your points about magic being in a hand are also valid. However, I wish a build without any magic was more feasible in oblivion. Maybe this will be the middle ground between oblivions magic heavy playstyle and skyrims physical damage heavy style. Thanks for the vid.

[@RichardSylvester94]

That Baldur's Gate/Morrowind comparison makes sense, they are totally different games and have different feel to them but the principles are much closer to each other and everything you do actually matters and have you involved in it that makes it so rewarding. It's like a goty formula waiting for a pick up...

[@djn6962]

Something tells me they will tie many spells to the “shout” ability/mechanic that won’t be being utilized in the mod. Many support spells could be tied there

[@freakyskull516]

and the idea of this being neither skyrim nor oblivion has now sold me on this mod. that is so cool and im in. lets go, im ready!

[@Mr.ToadJanfu]

Got to say you can't be blamed, I had been following the Skyblivion project for years and missed that these were announced features. Kinda thought it was just a skyrim reskin with the old quests and I was mostly sold at that.

[@samuelcarter76]

Thanks for talking about this. I really was hoping we would have proper battlemages in this mod and hadn't heard anything about it. Glad someone shares the same opinions about the spell system specifically.

[@barneysoldierson54]

ngl I wish these can be ripped out of skyblivion and put into Skyrim

[@spareribs1934]

Didn't watch the whole video, but god damn, that UI in the beginning looks better than anything Bethesda has done in years. The Skyrim UI was a complete down-step from Oblivion. It had a "modern" look that didn't fit the vibe of the series, and everything was oversimplified. This alone made me more hyped for Skyblivion than anything else Edit: Also, good points about casting from sword hands that I never considered. Hope they see this video.

[@hihosilver1234]

Lol another Bethesda hater who's probably played hundreds of hours of their games. Ew.

[@spareribs1934]

@ where did I say that I hate Bethesda? I’m disappointed in Bethesda in recent years, that doesn’t mean I hate them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t like their new(er) games. And if you must know, I put far more hours into Oblivion than I did anything post-Oblivion. I probably put about 20-30 hours into FO4 before I quit and didn’t feel the urge to even play Starfield. So, since you’re using the “hours played” metric, yeah Oblivion has them all beat.

[@SoundBottles]

Didn't see any spreadsheets. Who are you and what have you done with the old knight??

[@theoldknight85]

Honestly it felt wrong. Never again.

[@MannElite]

I agree 100%, I was excited when I first saw Skyblivion, but then quickly realized: 1. There probably won't be any attributes 2. You probably can't jump and attack at the same time or strafe/dodge while fighting. 3. You probably can't cast spells with your weapon equipped like in Oblivion.... Probably won't even touch the game if any of these are true

[@mightystu49]

I'd argue an RPG is best when you can't just do everything. Making magic be more of a commitment is ideal, since it makes builds actually unique and that they don't all basically turn into the same thing. No one skill or attribute should feel like a must pick for every character, and if it is it is not well designed. Ideally there should always be some sort of tradeoff in class choice, either dabbling around but not being that strong or focusing your skillset to excel in a couple key areas. Also if you genuinely think Morrowind plays more like a turn-based game I'd recommend going back and playing it again. If you just stand there and tank hits, unless you are spec'ed into block and heavier armors or using something like sanctuary you are definitely playing it wrong. That is why spears are useful and you have different attack types to chose from: attacks with big reach let you kite enemies and stay safe since you can use player skill to avoid being hit in addition to the die rolls when you actually are in range. This is also how Daggerfall works and you are missing a ton of depth in those games if you just stand there and take hits for no reason. That's literally the whole point of the difficulty setting in Daggerfall for reflexes; it adjusts how quickly enemies attack to fit with the player skill of avoiding hits independent of any attribute or skill.

[@theobell2002]

Yes, exactly. A good RPG would not allow you to just cast a spell while wielding a melee weapon. It's something you'd have to invest in to do.

[@TheTinCanHitMan]

That doesn't really fit with the Elder Scrolls and feels like a reach of a justification. You can become a master of everything in these games and limitations are sparse. The closest we get to limitations is Morrowind only allowing you to join one great house. Usually the limitations in the game are set by the player

[@kriegsdorff]

Do you always play pure vanilla, or do you ever mod oblivion? I'd wonder what you think of some of the gameplay overhauls like Oscuro's or Ascension.

[@Dolfy]

I feel like they should've shown a demo of what the attributes do like how does max speed look or luck, kinda important before they just put pretty graphics like with Skywind and that's another game I have no idea if they've messed around with the stats/attrbutes there. At least with Skywind I recall seeing a fair bit of unedited gameplay in an area they've done which makes it more clear they just want it more like Skyrim.

[@olive-robin]

Skywind has attributes and custom mechanics too

[@stoneharvey1017]

They dot want to do that because it might be subject to change.

[@Dolfy]

@@olive-robin oh shit didn't know that, now I'm in the same scenario as Old Knight assuming Skyblivion is like Skyrim with Oblivion's map lmao

[@olive-robin]

From what I can gather. Whenever you equip a spell, you could equip a spell as a lesser power. With a script on the active magic effect of that lesser power with the SendAnimationEvent along with playing sounds, light and cast the spell. You will still be shooting the spell from the head instead of the hand though Alternatively you could go down the enchantment route that spellsword did, by temporarily enchanting your gear via a lesser power and forcing the animation to cast it. But you'll still be technically attacking or blocking with the sword/shield

[@martinheizer2225]

I have put hundreds of hours in both Oblivion and Skyrim and I share a lot of your thoughts. It would have been interesting to modify the Dragonshout mechanic in Skyrim to make it more accessible by it using Magicka. The cooldown-based use just makes it very annoying and not viable to use in combat, it feels like a single use thing, in fights that dont last much longer than a few seconds, while the cooldowns are obnoxious (like Storm Call, which isnt even impressive, has 600s!!! cooldown). Only the staggering and ragdolling of Unrelenting Force is actually useful. Also, trivia: Dragons actally USE magicka to shout. If you drain their magicka with e.g. lighning spells, they stop "shouting".

[@mason4519]

yeah honestly I had no idea about any of this lol. all of my ideas of how they'd do the leveling system were just assumptions i had made myself

[@creat0r84]

If you practice in skyrim with the hotkeys and get the timing down, you can switch pretty quickly from spells to sword/shield or even a two handed weapon, but youre right in that its not the same as having your spell in your sword hand. Pretty sure this also frees up more hot keys so your character can be more versatile. Interesting video!

[@LearnEnglishCanada]

I understand why they’re not focusing on changes - people are very protective of their childhood memories. Any hint of changes beyond making it look prettier, and some of them will get very upset.

[@unicyclepeon]

They probably focus their videos on the graphics part because a) more people know skyrim so they are selling to them more, and b) because the graphics are the most labor-intensive part of development so it's probably on their mind more.

[@justsomeguywithlasereyes9920]

I think at the end you meant to say "Spells as shouts" and not the other way around, and if so ABSOLUTELY YES that would be so good.

[@KetchPhraz]

Counterpoint: Skyrims spellcasting looks really cool.

[@JackHugeman]

Honestly if they also let us put spells on the shout/power button so I can cast with a sword and shield I will be happy. Would also let mages have 3 spells (both hands and power).

[@ArvelDreth]

Doesn't really look much cooler than Oblivion and it bogs the pacing down to the point where it ruins the combat.

[@KetchPhraz]

@@ArvelDreth Being able to dual-cast a single spell, or charge up separate spells with each hand in Skyrim looks way cooler than pointing your arm to cast in Oblivion. Thats just an objective fact.

[@olchum7605]

​@@KetchPhrazI don't like how you look like a hunched granny

[@ArvelDreth]

@@KetchPhraz well I mostly care about the results and the results in Skyrim are inferior compared to Oblivion when it comes to how powerful the spells are and how versatile they are. And the results are more objective than your opinion of how the game looks.

[@vizari9570]

skywind is going crazyyyyy with mechanics too

[@forthgoever]

Oblivion has a solid core gameplay structure/statistics- some stuff 'should' be updated though imo

[@timbow1833]

being able to cast spells without equiping them is something vital Skyrim missed

[@Austinuztantine]

This has made me a lot more interested in the project, I still have a bad feeling bethesda is going to squash it at the eleventh hour though

[@glaz_man8278]

I suppose Skyblivion will be like Enderal in a sense that it's completely other game on a Skyrim base with some familiar elements from Oblivion. As a side note - having spellcasting on a separate button in Oblivion makes combat way more enjoyable, than constant switching back and forth in Skyrim/Morrowind.

[@XIVDock]

I’m curious to see where this goes. Your point about Oblivion’s magic system being more supportive and wide reaching for all builds is true, but it does also necessitate that every character learn magic if they want to maximize. Very few magic characters need to pick up opposing skills to maximize (byproduct of magic being insanely strong). I think it’s a really interesting idea, but I appreciate games that actually let you really focus in and have that still feel relatively viable. I think Skyrim tried to do that in its own way, but failed because all the skills ended up being too accessible. Every specialization having a crafting skill felt like a step in the right direction, especially with how strangely melee and stealth in Oblivion scaled. I’m not sure that I loved locking the best part of casting behind a questline for roleplaying purposes, but I can still see the argument in its favor. Hope this ends up being cool!

[@juliusfishman7222]

Makes combat smooth. No need for entering inventory every second

[@screwball992]

I'm sure they said that magic could be bound to the old shout button.

[@daniel.holbrook]

I appreciate all the work that the team is doing and I don't wanna sound like a prick but every single time someone gets the idea to port one of the older games into skyrim's engine with skyrim's gameplay and skyrim's mechanics my instantaneous reaction is always "why would I want to play that when I enjoy the old games way more than I enjoy skyrim" no matter how cool the art and assets and dungeons are, it's all still built around the turd that is skyrim's combat

[@SmokeGravity]

Yes, im excited Also 0.75 might be the percentile value- they just didnt put % beside it it matches 0 willpower so it seems to oblivions regen to me- its just displaying your percentage regen not your flat regen

[@Biomancy]

It bugs me that Skyblivion uses the Skyrim skills and not the Oblivion skills. Also I agree with you about the magic in oblivion not taking up a hand being better. It always bugged me that I can't block as a spellsword.

[@Kaijudomage]

Yeah, my biggest loss in Skyrim is not being able to cast while using a two handed weapon, casting through my weapon was great. That said, I would rather have a shield than a weapon if I was limited by my hands, I turned Spellsword into a Spellshield xD

[@Vahnyu]

I believe the stat menus shown in the dev diary were mostly placeholders. Note that it only has the 18 skyrim skills shown (so no Hand to Hand, for example), but in their lattest video, they mentioned how they've almost completed all 21 Master Training Quests This leaves me hopeful that: 1) They will fully re-implement the missing Oblivion skills (like Hand to Hand) 2) They might rebalance those skills to be more rewarding in-line with one another (please make Hand to Hand great, i am begging)

[@IzraelGraves]

I can't... Tell... If you're whining or excited.

[@lonecourier7258]

Passionate

[@theoldknight85]

Im very excited for Skyblivion and what the team comes up with. Im complaining about the way they communicate about what they are creating. The misinformation out there is endless, but they almost never talk about the mechanics or gameplay systems. They stream all the time and pump out videos, but they just ignore the most important topic.

[@hihosilver1234]

Oblivion and Skyrim are two of thw greatest games ever made. Modern RPGs dont even come close to the magic of those games for me.

[@forthgoever]

I enjoy these types of videos, speak freely friend!

[@AurraKo]

its like oblivion with nords

[@Sigma_SP]

good vid dude. I agree with your points, even if I love the combat in skyrim. (with all its flaws.)

[@blue-dragon]

The Old Knight do you play with a controller or KBM? I don't seem to be having as many problems with swapping out a spell with a shield almost instantly in combat on my keyboard.

[@forthgoever]

How about the ability to have some Spells that require a hand like Skyrim, unique, and leave the default system in play as well. . . .

[@Alt-c9x]

Skyblivion does look interesting but I'm still more excited for the Oblivion remaster for now.

[@theberserker6000]

What really scares me more than anything with Skyblivion is that there is more chance we play Oblivion with a stealth archer build than an intricate and interesting action-RPG.

[@stoneharvey1017]

It really will come down to whether you can equip spells and cast them like Oblivion with the 'shout' button. I'm pretty sure you can, actually. This it may vary from a spell by spell basis whether a you have to have it fully equipped to hand or not. If it's both, where you can cast like in Oblivion, and cast like in Skyrim (maybe make spells stronger when casted in the Skyrim method to compensate for commitment), then it's the best of both worlds.

[@HeavenlyPhantomStar]

Watching Skyblivion development, I've heard RebelzizeXtra say that Skyblivion isn't meant to be a 1 to 1 as in his opinion, what would be the point? You could just go play Oblivion. So they're taking liberties here and there, how many liberties it's hard to fully say right now, but it explains why the level up system isn't just 1 to 1 Oblivion or Skyrim.

[@xl-dt6qj]

I agree completely with magic casting in skyrim it sucks completely, even though most other stuff i like better in skyrim, i grew up on oblivion and love that game but i see the improvements in skyrim. but even though skyblivions spreadsheet looks different especially having 0 in attributes that sort of intrigues me but also could go horribly wrong too if reduce attribute spells and stuff can't go negative, but at the same time i sort of hate attributes and that's why i like skyrim a bit more because you just choose health magicka or stamina each level and the rest is skills, then you have perks to really define your skills. keep it simple type of deal, the problem with oblivion is that they made like people would use every skill, but most people do not most people see the character creation and go yes i'm a spell blade, i wear armor cut things and shoot fire balls, plus i might have a skill like repairing my equipment, then they proceed to never use alchemy or sneak or anything else because that's their build, which is the biggest problem with oblivion.

[@JakeSmith2580]

Have you tried many mods?

[@electivetoast6897]

On the point of minor skills no longer being critical to gameplay, some could see this as a positive since the game never gives you any obvious hints as to how its internal systems actually work. So, the intuition of a casual player is that minor skills are skills not worth investing in since you did not plan to invest in them anyway, otherwise you would have selected them as major skills. Leveling up too quickly? What's that, why would I not want to level up quickly- OH MY GOD WHERE DID ALL THESE MINOTAURS COME FROM?! WHY DO THEY HAVE FIVE THOUSAND HP?! Thus, finding a way to make the leveling system more intuitive based on what limited information the game gives you can be seen as an upside.

[@bushikao]

the fact that skyblivion is actually doing their own progression system has made me way more interested, but at that point why not make the game 100% a new game? TES akavir or something, now ill have to go through the same dialogue and quest objectives iv alrdy done 4 times now to experience that progression :/

[@slowpnir]

What's Archery doing in Combat?

[@forthgoever]

Makes sense imo, could be stealth or

[@egegeggegeeg4789]

Dont agree with ur "mechanics are more important than the rest" take. Skyblivion is fully modable. Mechanics, animations etc. can be changed later on

[@ashmonkey2572]

Nehrim improves on Oblivion's levelling system. You level up by gaining experience and can spent attribute points based on the normal Oblivion system of levelling your skills by using them. This system makes killing enemies apart from gaining loot worthwhile. Every level up you also gain LP (learning points) which can be used to train skills at trainers. So you can decide to save up learning points and spent them whenever you feel like it. In Oblivion i often tend to not level up until i've trained 5 times. Training can be very expensive in the early game if you decide to train a major skill. On another note: Why do we need Skyoblivion? These kinda mods seem useless to me. The chances of those kinda mods ever making it to release are very slim because those projects are very ambitious. And then what's the benefit? Just play Oblivion with graphic mods and develop NEW mods, new content.

[@ja_ple]

Skywind (Morrowind remake) has a hybrid of Skyrim and Oblivion spellcasting implemented but not sure if the devs collab with the Skyblivion team on this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZu3pH15rJllibc

[@proplayer682]

Just let us play the game already!

[@Colonel_Bat_Guano]

told ya

[@slish438]

They way you describe how oblivions magic is supportive, it sounds to me like the best possible version of the combat from ESO, lol. Not really, but kind of in the sense the ESO spells were mandatory for all classes.

[@mohamedmaatougui2469]

Ok before i talk about anything let me mention that i'm glad you atleast went a checked out some of the shit you missed in that video atleast. I think it's weird to not check their site on google before going through hours of video about development progress but that's ok. Let us establish a few simple things, the only time being able to cast a spell with the C button actually changes anything about combat is if you're casting a short duration effect meant for mid-combat use, an alteration buff or a summon or what have you which lasts 60-180 seconds is something you're gonna cast once at the start of the fight, maybe recast once again if it drags out, in this there's barely a change in the system. I wouldn't call magic in Oblivion supportive when it's the only thing making your character viable, outside Alchemy. Just bevause you're not hitting the enemy with fortify fatigue spells doesn't mean it isn't doing the heavy lifting in your damage. In Skyrim warriors should probably use Alteration for armor because your damage reduction scales exponentially higher the more armor you have, the curve/calculation exist on UESP but the short and simple of it the more armor you have the more protection each point gives you. If you're casting the spells like any person would, once at the start of the fight, second time mid fight to refresh the cooldown, it really doesn't affect the flow all that much. Most utility spells you don't need to invest that much into magicka to cast, investing into magicka is only needed for casters who spam shit and even then only early game, later Cost Reduction is just better. And even if you're running into issues casting you can just supplement it with Alchemy or pre-made potions or swap gear mid-fight with hotkeys or the favourites menu. Bound weapons in oblivion are also turbo weak because they don't support enchanting unless you do a glitch, actually in Skyrim they have the added utility or infinite ammo, Soultrap and insta-kill summons/fear raised undead if you want lol. My stealth archer who for some reason buffs and summons before stealth archering (or i guess after if my cover is blown) has a way higher level and therefore way more perks and stats and therefore is way stronger than your stealth archer, the classless system just makes using everything you have more rewarding in general and investing one or two perks that you got faster isn't weakening your stealth archering, in fact you can keep using weaker utility spells and invest your points into more stealth archering to be stronger than the stealth archer. You also don't HAVE to invest perks to get use out of the Schools, it's just a choice. In skyrim there are damage overtime spells, Cloaks, Poison Rune, Ignite and the Absorb Health Spells from CC Shouts and powers are still totally useable with Bows and 2 handed for mid-combat effects in Skyrim. The more important thing about your gameplay observation though, doesn't it bug you that an ARCHER can still perform extremely well in melee because the weakness of being a ranged character doesn't matter (i can pull a spell out of my pocket at any time). Even worse doesn't it bother you that an Archer is non-functional without magic ? While i do agree that limiting options feels bad, i think they should unique spells and abilities to warriors/archers to make them feel unique, not be able to do magic whenever they want. The way Oblivion's system works a pure caster has nothing unique over a Warrior or Archer who also just casts magic often, in Skyrim you atleast get the luxury of supercharging spells or casting 2 effects simultaneously. Swapping between a spell and shield is near instantaneous you gotta be joking if you think you can't quickly swap to a spell then go back to a shield to block, the only issue is with 2 handers and Bows, everything on one hand is fine. Also, you know you can put spells in your right hand right ??? Ultimately what it comes down to is preference, i agree that it does feel bad to strip back the player's ability to use spells and two handed weapons (to a certain extent because Powers/Shouts cover most spell effects anyway as to where it doesn't matter all that much) but that adds a new dimension to combat where the game asks you to create distance, or swap to a shield and spell so you can safely cast, instead of utility being a no brainer-buff you can spam alongside your weapon. Neither is objectively better as each system offers different upsides and downsides, in Skyrim ones handers and casters are more versatile with spell usage, two handers gotta think more and create distance with having more range or stronger staggers. In Oblivion the combat is more fast-paced and encourages (late game requires) playing a battlemage. What you gain in Oblivion is faster combat, what you gain in Skyrim is an interesting posisitoning question and more viable non-magic builds. Also people may be criticizing your opinions because you directly criticized people in the past for a lacking understanding of Oblivion's mechanics. Just because you label something an opinion doesn't make it beyond reproach, there is such a thing as a wrong opinion or take when it's built on an incorrect/incomplete understanding of something.

[@hulkamal5434]

Can you be my Dad please?

[@cosmicfox5671]

Skyblivion team sticking with Skyrim's skill system, removal of more than half of what was in Oblivion, was the nail in the coffin for me a year ago. Sorry, but I don't want to play an "Oblivion" without Acrobatics, Athletics, Mysticism, Hand-to-Hand, Blunt, Blade, Axe, Armorer, etc. Also, one of the things you forgot to mention about Skyrim's spell system; when wielded with a One-Hand weapon, that One-Hand weapon is limited to a single, slow, and blocky attack if you swing it while casting.

[@infinitedeath1384]

Oblivion doesn't have axe as a skill. Axe is part of the blunt skill.

[@alienplatypus7712]

They're "sticking with" Skyrim's skill system because of coding issues. Pretty certain Skyrim's skills are coded in a notoriously inflexible way. That's also why the minimum skill value's looking to be 15 instead of 5. And you can't swing your weapon at all while casting in oblivion, you need to wait for the animation to end, that's functionality the same.

[@thegrayinthefield8764]

@@alienplatypus7712 It was a problem with oblivion too. Skills were hardcoded, you couldn't add any new skills without some serious OBSE wizardry.

[@Alt-c9x]

@@alienplatypus7712 There's already other mods that make Hand-to-Hand a skill tree, and even I can change the skill levels you start with easily. Granted, I don't think HtH plays well in Skyrim anyway, so I agree with their decision. They'd have to make new animations for it to be good.

[@jakubwarenich4439]

Nobody couldnt be able to implement spellcasting into the main hand same as in oblivion, because skyrim engine doesnt allow it.

[@IONindustries627]

Stop being a purist

[@theoldknight85]

Did you watch the video?

[@Marcoffs83]

it's just a game, calm down, beta.